USA Today - 03.10.2019

MONEY USA TODAY z THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2019 z 3B

Employees have spoken, and the highest-rated
large companies for compensation and benefits in
the U.S. are Google, Facebook and Microsoft.
That’s according to the latest salary survey by the
job-hunting website Comparably, which compiled
data from 10 million ratings across 50,000 U.S. com-
panies.
At the top of the list for smaller companies is the
San Francisco-based lending company Upgrade, the
finance company Nerdwallet and the sales software
platform Highspot, according to employees.
Workers were asked questions like, “How often do
you get a raise?” and “Are you satisfied with your
benefits?” To qualify, large companies with more
than 500 employees had to have a minimum of 75
employees participate in the anonymous survey.
Smaller companies with under 500 employees had a
minimum of 25 employee participants.
Most employees (82%) at the large companies on
the list said they felt they were paid fairly at work
compared to 94% of workers at the top smaller com-
panies. By contrast, 47% of all the workers surveyed
by Comparably say they feel as though they are fairly
compensated.

Best large companies

for compensation in 2019

Ranked highest to lowest

1. Google................................Mountain View, California


2. Facebook..................................Menlo Park, California


3. Microsoft ...............................Redmond, Washington


4. Ultimate.............................Software Weston, Florida


5. Qualtrics......................................................Provo, Utah


6. UiPath...............................................................New York


7. T-Mobile...................................Bellevue, Washington


8. Verizon.............................................................New York


9. Capital One........................................McLean, Virginia


10. Zoom Video Communications......San Jose, Calif.


11. Amazon...............................................................Seattle


12. Apple.........................................Cupertino, California


13. Pegasystems..............Cambridge, Massachusetts


14. LinkedIn...................................Sunnyvale, California


15. Boeing...............................................................Chicago


16. LogMeIn.............................................................Boston


17. Intel.........................................Santa Clara, California


18. Workfront....................................................Lehi, Utah


19. Costco....................................Issaquah, Washington


20. ADP.........................................Roseland, New Jersey


21. MetLife...........................................................New York


22. Geico....................................Chevy Chase, Maryland


23. Nike..............................................Beaverton, Oregon


24. SmileBrands...................................Irvine, California


25. Wells Fargo...........................................San Francisco


26. Kaiser Permanente...................Oakland, California


27. KeepTruckin.........................................San Francisco


28. Insight Global..................................................Atlanta


29. Netflix.......................................Los Gatos, California


30. Pipedrive.......................................................New York


31. Sage....................................................................Atlanta


32. Comcast...................................................Philadelphia


33. Stryker.....................................Kalamazoo, Michigan


34. Nevro.................................Redwood City, California


35. Dell ................................................Round Rock, Texas


36. The Walsh Group...........................................Chicago


37. Nextiva.......................................Scottsdale, Arizona


38. eBay.............................................San Jose, California


39. Bank of America............Charlotte, North Carolina


40. General Mills...........................................Minneapolis


41. Shipt.......................................Birmingham, Alabama


42. Avant................................................................Chicago


43. Akvelon..................................Bellevue, Washington


44. Globant..................................................San Francisco


45. Fanatics.....................................Jacksonville, Florida


46. Aflac.............................................Columbus, Georgia


47. TripActions................................Palo Alto, California


48. Vivint.........................................................Provo, Utah


49. Axon............................................Scottsdale, Arizona


50. Xero Inc..............................................................Denver

Top small companies

for compensation in 2019

Ranked highest to lowest

1. Upgrade ...................................................San Francisco


2. NerdWallet..............................................San Francisco


3. Highspot..............................................................Seattle


4. Aptris ..................................................Rockford, Illinois


5. SalesLoft.............................................................Atlanta


6. InvestCloud...................West Hollywood, California


7. Drizly.....................................................................Boston


8. CultureIQ.........................................................New York


9. Periscope Data by Sisense.................San Francisco


10. Culture Amp.........................................San Francisco


11. Nuxeo..............................................................New York


12. Mixpanel................................................San Francisco


13. Womply..................................................San Francisco


14. Greenhouse Software................................New York


15. Overtime.....................................Brooklyn, New York


16. Integrity Implants............................Jupiter, Florida


17. Wonderschool......................................San Francisco


18. Eversight....................................Palo Alto, California


19. Realeflow...........................................Cleveland, Ohio


20. AdTheorent..................................................New York


21. Canidium................................Fort Collins, Colorado


22. Zipwhip..............................................................Seattle


23. Revenue...............................River Golden, Colorado


24. Bumble...................................................Austin, Texas


25. Mobilewalla..................................................New York


26. BambooHR.............................................Lindon, Utah


27. Lola.com............................................................Boston


28. Assurance..............................Bellevue, Washington


29. Celtra..................................................................Boston


30. OJO Labs................................................Austin, Texas


31. Life360...................................................San Francisco


32. Vokal.................................................................Chicago


33. Ocular Therapeutix........Bedford, Massachusetts


34. Automation Group..................Modesto, California


35. Juniper Systems....................................Logan, Utah


36. GamEffective...............................................New York


37. WhiteSource................................................New York


38. Sauce Labs............................................San Francisco


39. Igneous..............................................................Seattle


40. Hireclout.........................Woodland Hills, California


41. Motivosity...................................................Lehi, Utah


42. Taulia......................................................San Francisco


43. AppZen.......................................San Jose, California


44. Swift Navigation.................................San Francisco


45. Lever.......................................................San Francisco


46. Disruptive Advertising.......................Lindon, Utah


47. New Signature..............................Washington, D.C.


48. BuildZoom............................................San Francisco


49. Global Technical Talent ................Portsmouth, NH


50. Seek Business Capital ..........................Los Angeles

Workers say

these are the

best-paying

companies

Dalvin Brown USA TODAY

GETTY IMAGES

My very first job in high school was
scooping ice cream at a local shop. I
worked the first week for free because
the boss said I needed “training.” When
he tried to get me to work the next week
for free again, I quit.
After college, one boss threatened to
put his cigarette out in my forehead. I
quit that job, too.
Then, in my first job after law school,
I worked for a lawyer who was so mean,

so horrible, so short-tempered and de-

manding and rude and unreasonable

that – I later learned – she had fired the

four previous first-year lawyers who had

worked for her.

One of the other lawyers in the firm

told me in confidence, “Working for Le-

na will likely be the biggest challenge of

your legal career.”

Being a mere five months out of law

school, I replied, “What if I am not quite

ready yet for the biggest challenge of my

legal career?”

And yes, she fired me, too.

So, as you can see, bosses and I don’t

get along well; another reason I became

the world’s biggest advocate for self-

employment.

But I am not alone in hating bosses.

Toxic bosses are everywhere.

Take the White House, for example.

Whatever you may think of the presi-

dent, his accomplishments, his tweet-

ing, his bravado, and so on, it is indis-

putable that he is an incredibly difficult

man to work for.

So, just what makes a boss toxic, and

are you one? Let’s see ...

Toxic bosses are beyond

unreasonable

There is good unreasonable (say,

Steve Jobs), and then there is unreason-

able unreasonable (say, burning fore-

heads). When your demands on your

staff make rational people sad, unhappy

or crazy (or all three), you are a toxic boss.

Toxic bosses love being right

The best bosses listen and respond.

Toxic bosses not only don’t listen, they

love being right. They have to be right.

And that also means that everyone else

must be wrong. No fun being one of the

everyone else.

They are micromanagers

Not only is that boss who is always

looking over your shoulder so very an-

noying, he or she is also incredibly frus-

trating and probably dumb.

Micromanagers are toxic because

their actions result in the opposite of

their desired result: The work product is

inferior, not superior, and employees,

instead of being empowered, feel both

insecure and resentful.

Toxic bosses make

ridiculous demands

Toxic bosses make you work week-

ends with no notice. They will ask you to

do something that has nothing to do

with your job or is too physically de-

manding or is unethical or illegal or. ...

Toxic bosses are unprofessional

These horrible bosses often are

overtly or covertly sexist, racist, ageist

or whatever. Their language can be ig-

norant, or they may curse or worse.

Maybe they smell.

Maybe they dress inappropriately.

Maybe they’re moody.

Unprofessional bosses take credit for

work that isn’t theirs. They often engage

in, and feed off of, office gossip. Way too

many of them make a habit of yelling.

Others never communicate anything.

All of which is incompetent.

And finally:

Toxic bosses are confused

They confuse intimidation for

strength. They confuse screaming for

leadership. They confuse micromanag-

ing for being hands on. And they con-

fuse rudeness for honesty.

Do any of these describe you? Let’s

hope not.

Steve Strauss is an attorney, popular

speaker and the bestselling author of 17

books, including “The Small Business

Bible.” Connect with him on Twitter at

@SteveStrauss and on Facebook at The-

SelfEmployed.

We’ve all had a toxic boss at some point in our careers. Sometimes you just have to move on. Either way, don’t let it ruin
your professional life in the meantime.TUNART/GETTY IMAGES

Don’t be a toxic boss

Do any of these scenarios describe you? Let’s hope not

Steve Strauss

Columnist

USA TODAY